Jessie Vasey
Jessie Mary Vasey CBE (19 October 1897 – 22 September 1966) was the founder and President of the War Widows' Guild of Australia.
On 17 May 1921, she married Marjorie's brother, George Alan Vasey, an Australian Army major at St Matthew's Church of England, Glenroy, Victoria.
It also forced a number of moves, and the family resided in India from 1928 to 1929 while Alan attended the Staff College at Quetta and again from 1934 from 1937 while he was on exchange with the British Indian Army.
[7] After Alan was posted back to Melbourne in 1938, they bought a 5.65 Ha property at Wantirna, which they named 'Tiltargara', where they intended to retire.
The house was a white weatherboard cottage with a wood stove and no sewage or electricity, requiring kerosene lamps but probably all that they could afford.
"[10] On 5 March 1945 – just a few days later – Alan was killed in an air crash near Cairns and Jessie became a war widow herself.
The AIF Women's Association provide space in its building in Collins Street, Melbourne and the Australian Red Cross opened a nursery nearby for war widows' children.
In May 1947, the government announced an increase in the widow's pension of 5s per week, but this fell far short of what Vasey was asking for.
An ill-timed increase in parliamentary salaries help mobilise public opinion and Vasey held lunchtime rally at Melbourne Town Hall that attracted over 3,000 war widows.
[13] As a result, the Minister for Repatriation, Claude Barnard, agreed to meet with representative of the War Widows' Guild.
[13]The Prime Minister, Ben Chifley attempted to defuse the situation by claiming that Barnard had been misunderstood.
The campaign to bring the war widows' pension into line with the basic wage would continue for many years.
[16] If a woman is fond of her children and brings them up all right, then I don't care if she sleeps with ten men a night.
Perhaps the most controversial clause in the Repatriation Act was Section 43 which stated that a pension could be refused or terminated if the Board felt that the grant or continuance was undesirable.
Vasey and Barnard publicly clashed over the issue between May and September 1949 and the offending clause was ultimately removed from the act.
Starting with a £5,000 donation from Sir William Angliss and the proceeds from raffling a car, she obtained a loan to purchase a property.
[20] Matters came to a head in 1968 when the War Widows Guild formally severed its connection with Vasey Housing.
[4] Vasey died of cerebral thrombosis on 22 September 1966 at Grafton, New South Wales, while on her way back to Melbourne after visiting guild members in Queensland.
